Global Courant 2023-05-29 22:30:21
The Vatican on Monday urged bishops and high-profile Catholic lay leaders to tone down their comments on social media, as some caused division and fueled polemics that hurt the entire church.
The appeal was part of a document of 20 pages from the Vatican Communications Department titled: “Towards Full Presence. A Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media.”
The document, addressed to all Catholics, warned of the dangers of fake news on social media and other abuses that had turned people into commodities whose data was often sold without their knowledge or consent.
It condemned polarization and extremism that had led to “digital tribalism” on social media, saying that individuals often trapped themselves in silos of opinion that hampered dialogue and often led to violence, abuse and misinformation.
“Christian style should be reflective, not reactive, on social media. That’s why we all need to be careful not to fall into the digital pitfalls hidden in content that is deliberately designed to sow conflict between users by provoking outrage or emotional reactions the document said.
“The problem of polemical and superficial, and thus divisive, communication is especially concerning when it comes from church leaders: bishops, pastors and prominent lay leaders.”
A number of conservative Catholic bishops and high-profile commentators, particularly in the United States, have criticized Pope Francis on Twitter, and some have endorsed fierce, far-right video attacks on the pope.
“Unfortunately, broken relationships, conflict and division are not foreign to the church. For example, when groups that present themselves as ‘Catholic’ use their social media presence to promote division, they are not behaving as a Christian community should,” it said. document. said.
It said particular attention should be paid to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) in the coming years, and encouraged Catholics to be wary of machines “making our decisions for us”.
In 2020, the Vatican joined forces with technology giants Microsoft and IBM to promote the ethical development of AI and call for regulation of intrusive technologies such as facial recognition.
